It’s the start of Week 2, and I lost two games last week.
CLEARLY there’s something wrong with my team, right?
In my keeper league, Doug Martin gained nine yards on nine carries. That’s good for a grand total of zero points. I happened to lose that game by 15 points. On my bench was Chris Ivory, who racked up 16 points on the week thanks to his more than 100 yards rushing and a touchdown.
In one of my snake draft leagues, I spent a second-round pick on Denver Bronco wide out Demaryius Thomas, who nabbed all of four points on the weekend (non PPR scoring).
In another league, my New Orleans Saints’ defense was so awful that they scored NEGATIVE six points. It would have been better to not play a defense at all than to play the Saints’ defense.
Elsewhere around the NFL, players who went in the top-three rounds such as Jamaal Charles (average draft position (ADP) of third overall), Aaron Rodgers (ADP 12 overall) and Julio Jones (ADP 21 overall) all failed to post performances worthy of their draft positions.
So what is there to make about these less-than-stellar performances?
It’s easy to overreact to poor performances by top players. Especially if you had a bench player perform better.
I left Roddy White on the bench in one league this week, allowing his five catches, 72 yards and touchdown go to waste. Mark Ingram gained 60 rush yards and added two touchdowns. Andy Dalton outplayed Philip Rivers by 13 points.
It’s an easy choice to bench your underperforming studs in favor of these other players who had a good week last week.
But it’s the better play to stay the course with your studs this early in the season.
You picked Aaron Rodgers or Julio Jones or Demaryius Thomas in the first rounds for a reason. Even though they had a bad week, they’ll bounce back soon enough.
Several of the great performances in Week 1 could be flukes. Ivory’s touchdown and most of his yards came on one long touchdown run. You can’t expect that to happen every week.
It’s Week 1, people.
You don’t see the Packers freaking out and benching Aaron Rodgers after the loss to the Seahawks. You don’t see Jay Cutler getting benched after the loss to the Bills.
Why would you bench a top player just because he had a bad week? It doesn’t happen in real football and it shouldn’t happen in fantasy football.
Give your stud players a few weeks, but keep tabs on their performances. Not every stud pans out every year. It happens. But you wait a few weeks before giving up on them.
And these players that had great weeks? Add them to your bench. See what happens. They might not have excellent weeks every week, but they still might become solid contributors. Just as your studs might not pan out, these other players might become studs.
You lost this week. It’s not the end of the world. Your team will bounce back just like your studs will.
Have a bad performance from a stud? Need start/sit advice? Need to vent about a bad performance? Email me at [email protected]! I’d love to hear from you and I’ll put your questions in next week’s column!
Nick’s Picks of the Week:
1) Ahmad Bradshaw, Indianapolis running back
The running back position has one of the highest turnover rates of any fantasy football players. In order to see which running back will become consistent, you need to have a few extras stashed away on your bench. This is what I see in Bradshaw. The Trent Richardson experiment in Indy has failed. The Colts dumped a first-round pick in this year’s draft for a player who clearly doesn’t have legs to stand on. While Bradshaw might be more than 30 years old (the point where running backs sharply decline), he still managed 13 points in a PPR setting. This is because he caught five passes for 70 yards against a pretty good Denver defense. He’s not going to rack up the hard yards between the tackles like he used to, but he can still be a solid contributor in a PPR league. Grab him up and stash him on your bench to see if his performances continue.
2) Allen Hurns, Jacksonville wide receiver
Earlier this year, I said rookies are some of the biggest wild cards in fantasy football. To this point, Bills rookie Sammy Watkins recorded only three catches for 30 yards in his pro debut, while Panthers’ rookie Kelvin Benjamin nabbed six balls for 92 yards and a touchdown. Enter Jacksonville rookie, Allen Hurns. Hurns took his first two catches from Chad Henne and turned them both into touchdowns. He finished the day with 110 yards. So long as Cecil Shorts is out with [injury] for the Jags, Hurns could be the go-to guy on a team that will very likely be playing from behind this season. Again, see if last week was a fluke before throwing him in, but pick him up to see if he’s a budding stud.
3) Josh Gordon, Cleveland wide receiver
All right, I’m gonna level with you guys. I know Gordon is suspended. I know he’s a massive risk for any fantasy owner out there. But I know that if his suspension is reduced this week, I want him on my team. Gordon missed the first two games of last season and still led all wide receivers in fantasy points last year. The NFL Players Association is negotiating new rules for drug testing. If it passes, there’s a chance that this week Gordon is reinstated by the league. You have extra bench spaces. Use them to pick up Gordon. If he’s reinstated, you have one of the best wideouts in football on your team. If he isn’t, then you drop him next week and pick up someone new. That’s what my plans are.
Good luck, fantasy experts, and may my fantasy teams lose, so yours don’t have to.
CLEARLY there’s something wrong with my team, right?
In my keeper league, Doug Martin gained nine yards on nine carries. That’s good for a grand total of zero points. I happened to lose that game by 15 points. On my bench was Chris Ivory, who racked up 16 points on the week thanks to his more than 100 yards rushing and a touchdown.
In one of my snake draft leagues, I spent a second-round pick on Denver Bronco wide out Demaryius Thomas, who nabbed all of four points on the weekend (non PPR scoring).
In another league, my New Orleans Saints’ defense was so awful that they scored NEGATIVE six points. It would have been better to not play a defense at all than to play the Saints’ defense.
Elsewhere around the NFL, players who went in the top-three rounds such as Jamaal Charles (average draft position (ADP) of third overall), Aaron Rodgers (ADP 12 overall) and Julio Jones (ADP 21 overall) all failed to post performances worthy of their draft positions.
So what is there to make about these less-than-stellar performances?
It’s easy to overreact to poor performances by top players. Especially if you had a bench player perform better.
I left Roddy White on the bench in one league this week, allowing his five catches, 72 yards and touchdown go to waste. Mark Ingram gained 60 rush yards and added two touchdowns. Andy Dalton outplayed Philip Rivers by 13 points.
It’s an easy choice to bench your underperforming studs in favor of these other players who had a good week last week.
But it’s the better play to stay the course with your studs this early in the season.
You picked Aaron Rodgers or Julio Jones or Demaryius Thomas in the first rounds for a reason. Even though they had a bad week, they’ll bounce back soon enough.
Several of the great performances in Week 1 could be flukes. Ivory’s touchdown and most of his yards came on one long touchdown run. You can’t expect that to happen every week.
It’s Week 1, people.
You don’t see the Packers freaking out and benching Aaron Rodgers after the loss to the Seahawks. You don’t see Jay Cutler getting benched after the loss to the Bills.
Why would you bench a top player just because he had a bad week? It doesn’t happen in real football and it shouldn’t happen in fantasy football.
Give your stud players a few weeks, but keep tabs on their performances. Not every stud pans out every year. It happens. But you wait a few weeks before giving up on them.
And these players that had great weeks? Add them to your bench. See what happens. They might not have excellent weeks every week, but they still might become solid contributors. Just as your studs might not pan out, these other players might become studs.
You lost this week. It’s not the end of the world. Your team will bounce back just like your studs will.
Have a bad performance from a stud? Need start/sit advice? Need to vent about a bad performance? Email me at [email protected]! I’d love to hear from you and I’ll put your questions in next week’s column!
Nick’s Picks of the Week:
1) Ahmad Bradshaw, Indianapolis running back
The running back position has one of the highest turnover rates of any fantasy football players. In order to see which running back will become consistent, you need to have a few extras stashed away on your bench. This is what I see in Bradshaw. The Trent Richardson experiment in Indy has failed. The Colts dumped a first-round pick in this year’s draft for a player who clearly doesn’t have legs to stand on. While Bradshaw might be more than 30 years old (the point where running backs sharply decline), he still managed 13 points in a PPR setting. This is because he caught five passes for 70 yards against a pretty good Denver defense. He’s not going to rack up the hard yards between the tackles like he used to, but he can still be a solid contributor in a PPR league. Grab him up and stash him on your bench to see if his performances continue.
2) Allen Hurns, Jacksonville wide receiver
Earlier this year, I said rookies are some of the biggest wild cards in fantasy football. To this point, Bills rookie Sammy Watkins recorded only three catches for 30 yards in his pro debut, while Panthers’ rookie Kelvin Benjamin nabbed six balls for 92 yards and a touchdown. Enter Jacksonville rookie, Allen Hurns. Hurns took his first two catches from Chad Henne and turned them both into touchdowns. He finished the day with 110 yards. So long as Cecil Shorts is out with [injury] for the Jags, Hurns could be the go-to guy on a team that will very likely be playing from behind this season. Again, see if last week was a fluke before throwing him in, but pick him up to see if he’s a budding stud.
3) Josh Gordon, Cleveland wide receiver
All right, I’m gonna level with you guys. I know Gordon is suspended. I know he’s a massive risk for any fantasy owner out there. But I know that if his suspension is reduced this week, I want him on my team. Gordon missed the first two games of last season and still led all wide receivers in fantasy points last year. The NFL Players Association is negotiating new rules for drug testing. If it passes, there’s a chance that this week Gordon is reinstated by the league. You have extra bench spaces. Use them to pick up Gordon. If he’s reinstated, you have one of the best wideouts in football on your team. If he isn’t, then you drop him next week and pick up someone new. That’s what my plans are.
Good luck, fantasy experts, and may my fantasy teams lose, so yours don’t have to.
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